Separate Ways
by RodaRolla2
Summary: Danni reflects over the man who stole her heart that she left in New York while solving a case similar to the Isabelle Vaughn case. Danny/Don. fem!Danny. Song fic- Separate Ways by Journey


**Here we stand  
Worlds apart, hearts broken in two (two, two)  
Sleepless nights  
Losing ground  
I'm reaching for you (you, you)  
**

I stood facing New York. I'm worlds away from the man I love. My knight in NYPD blue. I miss him so much. I haven't been sleeping since I left him. I feel like the ground is pulling out from under me. I reach for him, but I can never reach him. He owns my heart. My heart is with him. He probably listened to me and moved on. I mean, who wants a screw-up like me? Why would a perfect man like him want someone like me?

**Feelin' that it's gone  
Can change your mind  
If we can't go on  
To survive the tide love divides**

It's better for the both of us that I left. He actually has a chance of finding someone who deserves him. Me, I have the chance of making sure my cousin doesn't turn out like me: a screwed up, tied to a gang, playing at being a cop idiot. I love him, but it's for the best that I left.

**Someday love will find you  
Break those chains that bind you  
One night will remind you  
How we touched  
And went our separate ways  
If he ever hurts you  
True love won't desert you  
You know I still love you  
Though we touched  
And went our separate ways**

Someday, he'll find a person he loves. He'll break through the chains that bind him. Find someone he can love and can love him like he deserves to be loved. If he even remembers one night between us, it'll remind him of how we went our separate ways. He'll find true love one day. If whoever he's with next hurts him, true love won't leave him. He knows I still love him, even though we've gone our separate way, right? Because I do, he stole my guarded heart. I will always love him.

**Troubled times  
Caught between confusion and pain (pain, pain)  
Distant eyes  
Promises we make were in vain (in vain, vain)**

'_Times are troubled here in North Carolina. Things are so different here than back in New York._' I muse as I take pictures of a DB found in a park near my cousin's school. I glance over at my new partner. He was also a Homicide Detective. He looked similar to the man who owns my heart. Tall, dark haired, yeah, he looked similar. But, my heart's owner had the brilliant blue eyes, my new partner had green. I am often confused down here. I'm in heartfelt pain every day since I left my lover and New York. His eyes seem so distant in my memory now. All the promises we made of forever are in vain. I glance up at footsteps and see my new boss. She was like a female Mac. No nonsense on the job, but could be a parental figure if need be. I've lost count of how many times she's looked at me with a worried mother's eyes. She doesn't even know me, besides the basics. She doesn't know me like Mac, so why does she show the same worry over me Mac shows?

"Messer, what do we have?" She asks me as she kneels beside me.

"Her name's Rosaline Coors. Twenty five, no kids, but she has a boyfriend." I reply.

If you must go, I wish you love  
You'll never walk alone  
Take care my love  
Miss you love 

'_I wish you all my love. I hope you never walk alone. Please, be careful. I miss you._' I think as I process the victim's clothes. I had watched the interrogation of the boyfriend. He seemed heartbroken about his girlfriend getting killed. If I were to be killed, would he react the same way as the boyfriend? Or would he not care that much? I really miss him, but does he miss me? I walked to go find my boss and show her what I found on the victim's clothes.

"Cindy. Look what I found on the vic's clothes." I called as I ran to catch up with her.

"Chocolate?" She frowned. "The victim was allergic."

"I think it might from our killer, since she's allergic." I replied.

**Someday love will find you  
Break those chains that bind you  
One night will remind you  
How we touched  
And went our separate ways  
If he ever hurts you  
True love won't desert you  
You know I still love you  
Though we touched  
And went our separate ways  
**

I groaned as I walked into my cousin's house.

"Long day?" She asked, glancing up from her biology book.

"You have no idea. We found a DB by your school." I said as I sat down beside her.

"I know. That's all the school talked about today." She rolled her eyes. "They expect me to give them a report tomorrow, since you're a CSI and all."

"Adult woman got her insides ate away by acid." I laughed. "Off the books statement: I think I know what caused it."

"Oh? I'm listening." She raised an eyebrow and leaned forwards.

"Back in New York we had a case where a fashion designer was killed by saponification, that's liquefying her insides. She had been given pure sodium hydroxide." I said.

"But, wouldn't she have had to swallow it to turn her innards into liquid?" She frowned.

"Yep. At least 18 oz." I nodded.

"But, the taste?" She frowned.

"Ever heard of something called the Miracle Fruit?" I asked.

"Can't say I have." She shook her head.

"It's this red berry. When you chew it, it alters your taste buds. Sour or bitter foods taste sweet." I replied. "Isabell ate a Miracle Fruit before drinking the sodium hydroxide."

"Suicide?" She frowned.

"No. Her business partner was angry at her for leaving the business, so she caused her boyfriend to have an affair with her, so that she could steal some sodium hydroxide pellets from his business, he made those elephant dung papers by the way, took them to this party, mixed a drink from them, and gave it to Isabell." I shook my head. "I think we're dealing with a similar situation."

"Then tell Detective Cindy. She'll probably believe you." She shrugged.

"I'll tell her in the morning." I replied. I ruffled her hair and stood up. "I'm beat. Gonna hit the hay. Night." I walked into my room to get ready for bed. As always, my thoughts drifted to the man who stole my heart. I know he'll find a person who'll love him like he deserves. He'll be free from those chains that hold him back. If he remembers a night between us, he'll remember how we went our separate ways. If the person he's with next ever hurts him, he'll know true love won't desert him. I still love him, even though we went our separate ways. That has to count for something, right?

**Someday love will find you  
Break those chains that bind you  
One night will remind you  
If he ever hurts you  
True love won't desert you  
You know I still love you**

We found out that Rosaline had another man in her life. We interrogated him and we interrogated her family. We did more lab work. Summer, our ME, found sodium hydroxide in the vic. Pure sodium hydroxide. I told my story to Cindy and the others on my team. Cindy put me as head on this case, since I knew what we were looking for. It was the first case I've been head on since coming down here. I felt good. The only thing bad about it was that every time I turned my head to make a witty comment along the lines of 'remember in the Vaughn case…' to Sheldon, or Lindsay, or Adam, Mac, Stella, hell, even the man that stole my heart, they weren't there, so I just closed my mouth and turned back to my work. One of my new lab partners, Jack, who is like Sheldon, asked me was okay after he saw me doing that a few times. Jack's a nice guy. We've been out for drinks after a hard day at the lab. His girlfriend gets mad at him when he does that with just the two of us, but he always brushes it off with a pointed comment like 'Babe, I love you. Danni, she's not my type. Besides, her heart's back with her knight in NYPD blue up in the Big Apple. I don't think she'd go for me anyway.' I'd follow up with a 'Yeah, I don't think I'd go for the Southern version of one of my best friends anyway. The guy's like a brother to me.' Jack and Cindy think I'm crazy for thinking that I don't deserve my heart's owner's love. But, how I can I tell them how perfect he is and how not perfect I am? I know that love will find him one day. I think he's already broken the chains that bound him, kept him from loving. If he even remembers one night between us… If whoever he's with ever hurts him, he should know that true love won't desert him. I mean, after all, he knows I still love him, right?

**I still love you girl  
I really love you girl  
And if he ever hurts you  
True love won't desert you  
No - No –**

In the end, it was the victim's sister that killed her. Her man on the side, that was her sister's boyfriend. She was angry when she found out. So, she took some sodium hydroxide from her work and bought some Miracle Fruit, mixed it into a drink and gave it to her sister. I felt bad for the victim's boyfriend. He really loved her, I could tell, and to learn that the sister did it because she found out that she was cheating with her own boyfriend, that must have been hard for him. I went home after the arrest and gave a report to my cousin, leaving names out once again. She left soon after to go to tennis practice. I sat down on the couch with a picture of me and the man who had stolen my heart.

"I still love you, Donny. I really truly love you." I let a few tears roll down my face. "If whoever you're with next ever hurts you, just remember true love won't desert you. No. No. It won't desert you, after all, I still love you, Donald Flack Jr. Danielle Messer still loves you, and that counts for something. I know it does."

**A/N:** Okay. The Danni POV. She is basically angsting about how Flack's too good for her and he deserves someone better while solving a case similar to one back in New York. She's still in love with him but she thinks that he'll find someone better for him than her. So, a little background. Danni is involved in a custody battle for her cousin, who lives in North Carolina. Since she's a citizen of North Carolina, Danni has to go down there for the custody mess. She sees this as the perfect time to let Flack find the person that actually deserves him. So, she breaks up with him right before moving to North Carolina. The song is 'Separate Ways' by Journey.


End file.
